The
Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, says he divulged a letter which a
former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and now Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu
Sanusi, wrote to former President Goodluck Jonathan on oil revenue theft in
order to check corruption.

Amaechi
said the claim that he ‘clandestinely’ leaked the letter was not true.

Sanusi
had on Wednesday claimed that Jonathan threatened him for writing a letter to
inform him (Jonathan) that $49bn was missing from the account of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation.

Sanusi
said that Amaechi, who was then the Rivers State governor, had confessed to
leaking the letter.

In a
statement issued by his media office on Thursday, Amaechi said that to suggest
that he “surreptitiously, clandestinely or underhandedly ‘leaked’ the CBN
governor’s letter is indeed most unfair, disrespectful and uncharitable to his
person.”

The
statement added that Amaechi revealed the content of the letter because he believed
that the level of corruption during the tenure of former President Goodluck
Jonathan was too high.

The
statement read, “To put the records straight, we want to categorically state
that a concerned and patriotic Nigerian, who felt troubled with what was
happening then, gave a copy of the Sanusi’s letter to Amaechi in Amaechi’s
capacity as the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum. Like Amaechi, we
should appreciate that concerned Nigerian’s patriotism.

“When
Amaechi got the letter, he spoke to Sanusi who was still the CBN governor to
confirm the authenticity of the letter. Sanusi confirmed to Amaechi that he
wrote the letter.

“During
their conversation, Amaechi made it abundantly clear to the then CBN governor
that the looting of the nation had to be stopped and that all non-remitted
funds should be remitted and that he (Amaechi) was going to use the letter to
do whatever was in the best interest of the nation and Nigerians.

“This
was the stoppage of the non-remittance and the recovery of all the non-remitted
funds from oil sales. The CBN governor didn’t agree with Amaechi on the way
forward.”

The
statement said owing to the fact that the letter was given to Amaechi as the
Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, he shared the letter with his colleague governors
first, and with Senator Bukola Saraki (now Senate President), who was doing
some investigation on the oil sector in the Senate.

The
statement said in leaking the letter, Amaechi was propelled by his patriotic
zeal to put Nigeria first and to do what was in the best interest of the
nation.

The
statement added, “Around that period, a delegation from the United States’
government, specifically from the offices of the secretaries of state and
defence visited Amaechi in Port Harcourt to discuss the issue of oil theft in
Nigeria.

“From
their records, they gave Amaechi figures of billions of dollars (about $7bn
annually) that was being lost to oil theft in Nigeria. They were discussing the
issue and the figures of oil theft, and that was how the CBN governor’s letter
to former President Jonathan came up.

“In
the presence of journalists covering the visit, Amaechi brought out the
Sanusi’s letter and showed the visiting American delegation to buttress the
point that Nigeria was losing far more money to the non-remittance of proceeds
from oil sales into the Federation Account.”